The present invention relates to golf bags for holding golf clubs used in playing a game of golf, and more particularly to a golf club holder insert designed to be inserted within the opening of a standard golf bag for holding golf clubs.
Many conventional golf bags include various size and shape top dividers which span the opening of the golf bag for the purpose of separating and dividing the golf clubs placed within the bag. One shortcoming of these dividers, which are mostly located at the upper portion of the golf bag only, is that the divider structure allows the clubs to become entangled with each other adjacent the bottom of the bag which often causes difficulty in removing a particular club, and may result in damage to the club shaft and/or grip.
It is well known to separate the individual clubs using a series of elongated, tubular members which extend from the top opening to the bottom of the bag. A shortcoming of this type of divider system is that the opening for the individual clubs is relatively small and requires precise alignment of the grip end of the club before a club may be inserted back into the bag. Also, there is no flexibility in movement in removing a club, requiring that it be lifted almost straight up in a vertical direction so that the club grip does not scrape the interior edged sides of the divider.
Other more general shortcomings of golf bag structures and particular golf bag dividers is that the top edge of the dividers are normally below the top edge of the golf bag opening and these structures permit the iron heads of the shorter clubs to impact the hosel and shaft areas of the longer clubs, thereby inflicting damage to them. This is particularly critical with the advent of the more sophisticated graphite shafts where the shaft coating is made of material which can be easily damaged. Constant wear caused by the other golf clubs often results in damage or wear to the shafts or to the paint coating thereby producing an unsightly and distracting area on the shaft visible to a golfer using the club.
The present invention relates to a stationary golf club holder insert for golf bags designed to be secured in the opening of golf bags as original equipment or as a replacement for dividers.
The inserts of the present invention use a primary compartment which is raised above the other compartments and which is structured to separate and protect the golf clubs and shafts of the clubs stored in the compartment from being damaged by the other clubs stored in the golf bag.
A preferred embodiment of a golf club holder insert includes a first inner central compartment and a series of outer compartments radially disposed about the central compartment. The central compartment includes wall surfaces which extend in a vertical direction above the outer compartments, such that golf clubs stored in the central compartment are separated from making contact with golf clubs stored in any of the radially disposed outer compartments. Preferably, the inner central compartment is round in shape, although other embodiments of the invention comtemplate a variety of other shapes, such as square, rectangular, oval, or any other geometric shape.
The outer compartments of the divider are located between the outer wall of the central compartment and the inner wall of the outer periphery of the insert. The dividers extend to the top edges of the central compartment in some embodiments, whereas in others, the central compartment is raised substantially above the dividers.
Another golf club holder insert preferably extends the entire length of the bag from the top opening to the bottom and is made with between five and seven openings to accommodate the clubs. Each insert includes a circular center opening compartment and a plurality of from four to six arcuate compartments, each adapted to accommodate from one to three golf clubs placed therein. Preferably, the circular center compartment is raised approximately three inches above the levels of the other compartments, which protects the expensive wood or metal-wood shafts from being struck by the shorter iron type club heads, thereby eliminating the damage to them.
Yet another embodiment of the golf club holder insert is formed with a circular center compartment and two opposing spaced apart individual arcuate compartments with full length dividers. When inserted into a suitably sized golf bag, the club holder insert also creates two additional club holding compartments located between the two opposing insert compartments, formed in part by the inner wall of the golf bag itself, for a total of five individual club holding sections.
Another embodiment includes a circular center compartment and three symmetrically spaced individual compartments with full length dividers. When inserted into a golf bag, a total of seven club holding sections are formed.
Among the objects of the present invention are the provision of a full length golf club holder insert which may be provided as original equipment, or as a replacement structure for conventionally shaped golf bags.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a golf club insert having a plurality of club receiving openings each structured to receive from one to three golf clubs, thereby permitting easy removal and a simplified means of insertion of golf clubs out of and back into the golf bag while separating the various clubs in accordance with the preferance of the individual golfer.
Still another object is the provision of a golf club holder insert having a raised primary compartment structured to receive the longer golf clubs and protect the longer clubs from damage from the club heads of the shorter clubs.
These and other objects will become apparent with reference to the following specifications and accompanying drawings.